8 Simple But Powerful Landing Page Copywriting Tips

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You don’t have to be Hemingway to write landing page copy that will resonate with your prospects. Image source.

The “short pitch” is the purest form of marketing. When I started out in marketing in nineteen hrmpmubmmmumble, I did some copywriting for one-page print and direct mail pieces. They required really sharp, compelling, minimal prose. Ever try selling the virtues of a roof consulting firm in a four-inch print ad? Yeah.

Today, nothing demands more of a writer than creating copy for a landing page. You have to communicate your value, get the visitor to keep reading and get them to act. A tall order in any setting. And you have to do it all on a single page.

And while landing pages are online and print ads are, well, print, many of the same principles still apply. Here are eight copywriting tips that ring true regardless of where your copy appears.

1. Provide ROTI

Your first job when creating landing page copy is to provide Return on Time Invested, or ROTI. The first investment any potential customer makes is time. When they click that PPC ad and head to your landing page, they’re spending time – you need to make it worthwhile.

That’s the core principle of great landing page copy: As the customer, I have limited time. Tell me what I need to know. Tell me right away. Don’t get cute about it. Don’t make me hunt for it. I’m here because I have a need. Tell me how you’ll fill it or I’ll leave.

2. Sell the page

The very first thing the reader sees should explain why they should stick around. Yes, a great headline helps. But follow up with more. Here’s what I mean:

“Buy now!!!!” isn’t very effective on its own.

“Need better widgets? Buy from us!” isn’t much better.

“A lighter, stronger widget will improve your profit and decrease maintenance life cycles” is great, especially if you follow with “Here’s how.“

I’m not just pushing the product. I’m providing information. I’m going to tell you why my product is lighter and stronger. And, even if you don’t buy my product, you’ll come away with information.

3. Avoid plague words

Landing pages require compact prose.

Plague words are words that bloat prose – stuff like “at about” (which should be “at”) and “ask the question” (which can be shortened to “ask”). These words waste time. They lower ROTI. Or they confuse the reader, which in turn lowers ROTI.

Read this:

“Indeed, our cycling helmet is lighter and stronger due to our use of unobtanium.”

Now read this:

“We use unobtainium to make a lighter, stronger helmet.”

Same message. Fewer words.

Being concise is an art. You can find a tab-delimited list of plague words that I maintain here.

4. Show social proof

If you have lots of customers or you’ve handled 10,000 orders in 24 hours, make it known. Social proof is a powerful thing.

Moxie uses various types of social proof to incentivize prospects to buy.

Social sharing buttons provide a great, basic example. When those little buttons that let you tweet, share and pin a particular piece of content show lots of other folks sharing, you’re more likely to share, too. We’ve tested this and found that as the share count increases, the rate of sharing accelerates.

Another test for a client really drove this point home. We set up an A/B test for e-mail subscription landing pages: Version 1 espouses the virtues of the information you’ll receive. Version 2 does the same thing, but adds a single line:

“4,500 current subscribers.”

The client, a publisher with 1 million+ website visitors per month was concerned that 4,500 subscribers was too low and might drive away potential subscribers. Subscription rates on version 2 went up 20%.

Social proof. Use it.

5. Try the Blank Sheet of Paper Test

If you wrote your headline, subhead, image caption or first paragraph on a blank sheet of paper and handed it to a stranger on the street, would they understand it?

That’s the Blank Sheet of Paper Test. The higher up on the page it appears, the more important it is that your writing be clear without context.

I’ve got some painful examples. Warning: these aren’t for the faint of heart:

“Supreme Court Tries Sodomy”

I’m an open-minded guy, but I don’t think that’s what they meant. This headline might be passable on a print page with explanatory text around it. Online, and especially without context, it’s a disaster. How about:

“Supreme Court Tries Sodomy Case”

A less painful example:

“Lighter. Stronger. The H1.”

Hmmm. What is the H1? If this is on a print page with a huge image, it could work. On the web, where I might see this in an e-mail, in a tweet or in some other snippet, it’s a mystery. Add one word and it starts to make sense:

8. Don’t use a checklist

I just gave you a bunch of “rules” for good landing page copy, but I’ve got one last bit of (counterintuitive) advice.

When you’re writing landing pages, the first rule is there are no rules. Try different things. Use a post like this as a starting point, but understand you’re writing for people and you’re writing about your own unique products.

About Ian Lurie

Ian Lurie is the founder and CEO of Portent, an internet marketing and technology company he started in 1995. He recently co-wrote the 2nd edition of the Web Marketing All-In-One For Dummies, has recorded training for Lynda.com and is an international speaker. Ian writes regularly for the Portent blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Forbes and TechCrunch.